Who Sets the News Agenda on Twitter?

Abstract

Since its debut in 2006, Twitter has established itself as a unique platform for news sharing with features, such as “@mentions” and “retweets,” popular among journalists and non-journalists alike. This study examined how journalists share news messages on Twitter. Specifically, the authors investigated whether there is any difference in linking and attribution behavior between journalists for online and prestige traditional news organizations. A content analysis was conducted of a sample of 1175 tweets from 40 journalists from eight news organizations (four prestige traditional and four online) posted during the US government shutdown from October 1 to 16, 2013. This study supports previous research that journalists are more likely to promote content from their own news sites than from other sources. The study also extends agenda-setting theory to journalists’ use of Twitter. When they were not linking to their own news organizations’ work, journalists in the sample were more likely to link to content on traditional news sites than on online news sites. Also, journalists were more likely to interact through retweets and @mentions with other journalists than with public officials or other citizens.

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